Friday, April 26, 2013

Complaint to BBC

Some of you may remember I lodged a complaint against the
BBC this is their reply with my answer at the bottom

The following was at the bottom of the email seems nothing
is easy when complaining

NB This is sent from an outgoing account
only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if
necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we
provided.

Dear Mr Clarke

Reference CAS-2054655-GFVKWF

Thank you for contacting us about
the edition of ‘The Big Questions’ broadcast on 14 April.

Your concerns, that the programme
displayed left-wing bias, were raised with the programme’s editor, who
responded as follows:

“The two sides of the debate, Is
it ever right to celebrate someone’s death?, were set up to be evenly matched.
On the YES side we had invited to take part in this debate:

Prof Chris Knight, a political
activist who was one of those who had taken part in the event in Trafalgar
Square.

Two women who had been affected by
the miners’ strike and the programme of pit closures that followed– Jean Lane,
who edited a magazine called Women’s Fightback during the years 1984-85, which
was covering the strike and its effect on communities from the inside. And
Karen Waddington, a miner’s wife, and a mother at the time of the strike, who
became part of Women Against Pit Closures.

Benjamin Zephaniah, the poet, who
wrote many poems about this political period and also had strong views on Mrs
Thatcher’s approach to South Africa.

In addition, Prof Noel Sharkey
(Sheffield University, a scientist and an ethicist), whom we had invited to
speak in the second debate on drones, chose to speak on this topic too.

On the NO side we had invited:

Canon Dr Alan Billings, who was
part of the Church of England’s commission set up during the Thatcher years
which published Faith in the City. He also served as a deputy leader on
Sheffield Council. So he is a man of the left as well as the cloth but he was
absolutely opposed to people celebrating someone’s death. He said our thoughts
should be more about the deceased’s relationship with God than the individual’s
political triumphs or personal failings.

We also invited Nadine Dorries,
the Conservative MP for Mid-Bedfordshire.

Dr Tim Stanley, who is also on the
right and, as well as being a Leader Writer on the Telegraph, is also a
journalist and an author of books on US foreign policy.

In addition, we knew that two
people we had booked for two other debates also wished to speak on this also:

Clive Aslet, former editor and now
Editor-at-Large on Country Life, again from the right.

Andrew Brookes, who was actually
Mrs Thatcher’s nuclear release officer (when he worked with her directly), and
then Commander of RAF Greenham Common. We cannot judge his politics but he told
us that he had liked her and was very opposed to anyone celebrating her or
anybody else’s death.

In total, the team booked four
voices on the Yes side and five on the No side, the debate was evened up on the
front rows by the addition of Prof Sharkey.

In terms of the audience on The
Big Questions: it is booked to reflect the area in which we happen to be each
week. We are required to reflect the religious and ethnic make-up of each area
and not its political composition because after all, the programme is
commissioned by BBC Religion & Ethics and not BBC News.

We think it is worth adding that
any other audience members who spoke were chosen at random by Nicky, who had no
pre-knowledge of their views. We cannot tell in advance how passionately
someone will speak once a live debate takes off – the more passionately someone
speaks the more impact they seem to have on the viewer, it weights their
contribution. In this case one side (NO) had people who were more used to
speaking in public debate. On the other, we had two people who had never done
anything like this before (Karen and Jean) and who did get rather carried away
by the force of their emotions during the debate, but this was because they
felt they were two of the few people present who had suffered directly from
policies enacted by Mrs Thatcher’s government.

We’re confident Nicky did his best
to keep order, and to keep the debate on track. The YES side felt it was right
to celebrate Mrs Thatcher’s death because of what they saw as the effect of her
policies on people like them and others. It was not a place to discuss whether
the policies were right or not, as Nadine tried to do, but to discuss whether
it was right to celebrate someone’s death whether you agreed with them or not –
which we did”.

We hope we have been able to
address your concerns, nevertheless, I acknowledge the strength of your
complaint and I can assure you that I've registered your comments on our
audience log.

This is the internal report of
audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and
commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It
ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are made available
across the BBC.

NB This is sent from an outgoing account
only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if
necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we
provided.

Thank you for replying you did miss the
point although you may have equal numbers for and against, those anti Maggie
supporters had most of the say which should have been sorted by your presenter
and to make the following excuse for these women to take over the show was wrong.
Quote "On the other, we had two people who had never done anything like
this before (Karen and Jean) and who did get rather carried away by the force
of their emotions during the debate, but this was because they felt they were
two of the few people present who had suffered directly from policies enacted
by Mrs. Thatcher’s government." Had any one found out that they had
suffered directly? Was what they were saying actually true? Were they members
of any political party, were they actively involved in anti Government protest?
These questions should have been put to them to try and get some
balance. For two women who had never done anything like this, they seemed well
rehearsed.